The present disclosure relates to composite materials including filler components.
For many applications, filler materials are incorporated into polymeric materials to improve the mechanical strength or other characteristics of the polymeric material. For example, molded polymeric components may be “toughened” by incorporation of high-strength filler materials, such as carbon nanotubes or carbon fibers. Similarly, composite materials, such as glass-fiber reinforced plastic (“fiberglass”) comprising a polymeric resin and a filler material, which may be a woven mat of fibers, have many applications. Typically, these molded components and composite materials use thermosetting polymeric resins, such as epoxy resins. However, the use of thermosetting resins make it generally difficult rework and/or recycle such molded components and composite materials because once “set” these resins are highly crosslinked and, thus, generally intractable. Because the resins are intractable, the filler materials are typically not recoverable. In many instances, it is desirable to recover filler materials for reuse since the fillers may be, for example, expensive or otherwise difficult to procure.
In general, a need exists for high-performance composite materials and molded components that are recyclable and/or re-workable.